Classroom Management Philosophy I believe classroom management is an indispensable component to all classroom settings. Classrooms should be safe, welcoming, and supportive environments which allow students to thrive; implementing a classroom management plan allows for this type of environment. Classroom management entails the development and nurturing of cooperating and mutually respectful relationships between the teacher and parents, students, and other school staff. Additional components of classroom management include clearly identified rules and expectations of the classroom, the celebration of diversity within the classroom, an engaging and interactive student-focused curriculum, and modeling of character education

​Planning and Delivery of InstructionIn order to effectively deliver instruction and teach students of all learning styles, I will have a lesson plan prepared for each lesson. I believe each student has the capacity to learn, and I understand the path to learning may look different for each child. Therefore, these lesson plans will include differentiated instruction and built-in supports for meeting individual student needs. Furthermore, I will utilize a variety of instructional methods, depending on the objectives of the lesson. Each lesson will be student-focused, and will encourage student engagement.

​Building Interpersonal RelationshipsI will begin building classroom cohesion with a variety of welcoming activities in the beginning of the year, and plan to use group-building activities throughout the year. These activities allow students to develop and strengthen interpersonal relationships with one another, and also with myself. Throughout the year, teachers should become acquainted with their students as individuals, and build relationships with students based on mutual trust and respect. I will do this by incorporating personal experiences into my instruction, and inviting students to do the same. In order to teach students proper social etiquette, I will model desired behaviors in my classroom.

Parental InvolvementBuilding strong, supportive parent-teacher partnerships is important to bridging the gap between home and school, and to providing students with a solid foundation of support. A welcome letter will be sent to parents at the beginning of school which contains my contact information and my desires to build a mutually supportive relationship for their child’s success. I will send home weekly newsletters informing parents of classroom activities and ways to integrate, at home, what we are learning in the classroom. Furthermore, parents will be invited to attend school activities and partake in opportunities to chaperone our class field trip.

Addressing Behavior IssuesClassroom rules and expectations, which the students and I will create together in the beginning of the year, will be on display to deter from behavior issues; however, in the event that a behavior issue does arise, behavior issues will be handled consistently in accordance with school policy. All behavior issues will be addressed privately with the involved party. For minor issues within the classroom, I will attempt to determine the cause of misbehavior, remind students of classroom expectations, and model the desired behavior.

Individual Behavior System: In my classroom, I will utilize a behavior clip chart. The students will begin the day on "Ready to learn". The students can advance toward earning a "golden ticket" entry by displaying extraordinary behavior throughout the day. At the end of the week, the students who have earned a golden ticket entry are entered into a drawing to earn a "Golden Ticket." This golden ticket presents five choices, of which the student may choose one, as a reward for positive behavior. Five student entries will be selected each week to earn a Golden Ticket. If a student misbehaves, he or she will clip up on the chart to warning. If the student misbehaves again, he or she will advance to "Captain's Choice" which requires the student to sit out for five minutes of recess. If the student continues to misbehave, he or she will clip up to "Parental Contact." At this point, the student will be required to sit out for an entire recess and I will make contact with you by the end of the school day. Students do have the opportunity to clip down for good behavior after they have clipped up; however, if a student clips up to "Captain's Choice" or "Parental Contact," he or she will still be served the respective consequences.

Small Group Behavior System:As students are placed in groups, I will give out "stars" to groups who are displaying readiness to learn characteristics. The group who has earned the most stars at the end of the day earns a reward (teacher's choice).

Whole Group Behavior System: I will use a marble jar to promote whole-group collaboration. When the entire class displays readiness to learn characteristics, they have the opportunity to earn marbles in the marble jar. When the jar is full, the whole class will earn a reward (teacher's choice).